Councillor doesn’t fall foul of the dog squad
Owner stopped by enforcement officer
A Stirling rural councillor was among a number of pet owners to be stopped by community enforcement officers hoping to crack down on dog fouling.
Trossachs and Teith SNP councillor Evelyn Tweed said she had been approached by an officer while walking her dog.
But she added that it showed that efforts were being made to tackle a difficult issue despite concerns having been raised that it wasn’t being given enough priority.
Councillor Tweed told the environment and housing committee yesterday (Thursday): “A couple of weeks ago I was approached in the park on a Friday evening quite late on by one of our enforcement officers and they did ask if I had disposal bags - which I did - and explained dog fouling was an issue in the area.
“It’s really difficult for them to enforce unless they actually see the dog fouling and the owner not picking it up.”
Bridge of Allan and Dunblane Green councillor Alasdair Tollemache also said he had worked with officers on a case in Dunblane where someone was deliberately leaving dog excrement in a ditch, outside houses and even on people’s cars.
He added: “It isn’t easy to catch the people doing this and it takes a long time to get the intelligence needed. Perhaps it does need more resources, but a lot of resource was put into catching the person who w as the offending party in this instance.”
Tory group leader Councillor Neil Benny said given the small number of dog fouling fines issued it didn’t feel like dog fouling was a priority.
Regulatory services manager Lorrainne MacGillivray said: “Dog fouling remains a priority area of work for the team and patrols continue to be undertaken daily by officers, in addition to responding to complaints, to help address the problems this causes. Changes were made to ensure as many areas as possible are patrolled on a regular basis and over 200 dog fouling patrols, three formal warnings and one fixed penalty notice were issued by officers between October 1 and December 16.
“During December we undertook 200 dog fouling patrols. That increased in January to 234. That involves officers patrolling hotspot areas and engaging with dog walkers and reminding them to carry dog waste bags or they provide them with them.
“The difficulty is that the officer has to catch the dog in the act and the dog owner not taking action to pick it up.
“Our preference is always to look at a range of interventions and if they are not taking the advice then there would be enforcement.”
Tory councillor for Bridge of Allan and Dunblane Alastair Majury said the priority seemed to be protecting revenue given the small numbers of dog fouling penalties issued in comparison with thousands of parking tickets.
Committee chair Councillor Jim Thomson said no one would disagree that dog fouling was an issue worth tackling, but that officers could not be expected to be in every street.
He added: “We can increase the figures if we want the officers to do nothing else but tackle dog fouling but they have a range of duties. With the officers we have available I think they are doing a very good job.”
Tory councillor for Trossachs and Teith Martin Earl suggested there may have to be a period where there were no formal warnings and officers would simply go straight to issuing a fixed penalty notice.
The difficulty is that the officer has to catch the dog in the act and the dog owner not taking action to pick it up Lorrainne MacGillivray Stirling Council